Emerson’s style is deliberately both poetic and philosophical. He frequently utilizes poetic devices and uses flowery prose. However, he also uses several tools from philosophy: clear reasoning, genealogies (which, in philosophy, show an idea's origins), and terminology invented for clarification.
This side of Emerson’s style comes through most clearly when he discusses language:
Every word which is used to express a moral or intellectual fact, if traced to its root, is found to be borrowed from some material appearance. Right originally means straight; wrong means twisted. Spirit primarily means wind; transgression, the crossing of a line; supercilious, the raising of the eye-brow.
Here, Emerson supports a claim about the origins of language as a whole by examining the etymologies of particular words. Unlike at other points in the essay, he uses clear language and examples rather than relying on the beauty of his prose to persuade the reader.
To some, the coexistence of a poetic style and a more straightforward, academic style may seem strange, but to Emerson, it is not. The very choice to use a poetic style in an essay reflects Emerson’s belief that the poet and the philosopher are united in their causes. As Emerson argues in his essay, the poet and the philosopher have the same pursuit, as truth and beauty are two halves of one whole. Thus, he deliberately synthesizes the styles in order to emphasize that being both a poet and a philosopher is ideal.
Emerson’s style is deliberately both poetic and philosophical. He frequently utilizes poetic devices and uses flowery prose. However, he also uses several tools from philosophy: clear reasoning, genealogies (which, in philosophy, show an idea's origins), and terminology invented for clarification.
This side of Emerson’s style comes through most clearly when he discusses language:
Every word which is used to express a moral or intellectual fact, if traced to its root, is found to be borrowed from some material appearance. Right originally means straight; wrong means twisted. Spirit primarily means wind; transgression, the crossing of a line; supercilious, the raising of the eye-brow.
Here, Emerson supports a claim about the origins of language as a whole by examining the etymologies of particular words. Unlike at other points in the essay, he uses clear language and examples rather than relying on the beauty of his prose to persuade the reader.
To some, the coexistence of a poetic style and a more straightforward, academic style may seem strange, but to Emerson, it is not. The very choice to use a poetic style in an essay reflects Emerson’s belief that the poet and the philosopher are united in their causes. As Emerson argues in his essay, the poet and the philosopher have the same pursuit, as truth and beauty are two halves of one whole. Thus, he deliberately synthesizes the styles in order to emphasize that being both a poet and a philosopher is ideal.
